fferent to the
ordinary pursuits of human indulgence, I looked with something of a
melancholy yet proud hope, to the enjoyment which was to be found in
giving myself up to the solitary and stern toil of living for a great
cause, and leaving a name behind me that should not be forgotten.

On that very day the intelligence arrived that the British troops had
marched towards the north of Germany; that the royal duke had returned
to England; and that the Allies had, by common consent, abandoned the
invasion of France. My habits were always prompt. Before the hour was
over in which the gazette appeared, I waited on my ministerial friend,
and expressed my full acquiescence in his proposal.

I pass by the process of getting into Parliament. It was then a
simpler matter than it has since become. A treasury borough was then
the gate through which all the leading names of the country had
entered the legislature, and I merely followed the path of all but the
lords of acres.

Every man who will make himself master of an occupation must serve an
apprenticeship. Parliament, too, has its seven years' indentures, and
the few who have refused the training have seldom been the wiser for
their precipitancy. I "bided my time," taking a slight occasional
share in debates with whose topics I happened to be well acquainted;
and expecting the chances, which, to every one who employs himself
vigorously, are all but certainties. Still I felt that this mere
hovering on the outskirts of debate must not last too long, and that
nothing was more hazardous to final reputation than to be too slow in
attempting to lay its first stone. Yet I felt some difficulty in every
great question; and, after bracing my nerves for the onset, I always
found my courage fail at the sight of the actual encounter. I felt as
a young knight might have felt in some of the tilting-matches of
old--master of his charger in the open field, and delighting in the
pressure of his armour and the weight of his lance; but when he once
rode within the barrier, saw the galleries filled, and the heralds
lifting the trumpets to their lips, feeling his blood grow chill, and
the light depart from his eyes.

I mentioned my embarrassment to my Scottish friend, and almost
expected a remonstrance. To my great surprise and infinite pleasure,
he congratulated me. "You cannot give a better sign," said he. "My
only fear of you was, that you would dash into debate at once, like a
tumbler jumpi